Manufacture of counter stiffeners for boots or shoes



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(No Model.)

P. COX.

MANUFACTURE OF GOUNTER STIFFENERS FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

Patented July 10., 1888.

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PL 00X.

MANUFAGTURE 0F COUNTER STIFPENBfiS FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES. No. 385,746. Pgtented July 10, l

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MANUFACTURE OF COUNTER STlFFENERS FOR BOOTS ORSHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,746, dated July 10, 11888.

Application filed December 6, 1887. Serial No. 257,110. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK Cox, of ltochester, county of Monroe, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in the Pro cess and Method of Manufacturing Counter- Stiffeners, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification, like letters on the draw ings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object a novel method or process for the manufacture of counter-stiffeuers from leather.

Oounter-stiffeners are now made from leather blanks in the following manner-via, by pounding the leather blank laid upon the last until it conforms to or fits the heel of the last; also, by subjecting the blank to the action of molds, between the surfaces of which the blank is subjected to pressure alone, or to pressure combined with a rubbing action; and so, also, a leather blank has been subjected to the action of rolls to partially shape the blank to be thereafter treated, and, finally, shaped in a mold or by jaws, which are made to rub upon the blank supported upon a heel-shaped form. These methods of manufacture so thicken or harden the material as to break or distort the fiber of the blank to the extent of destroying its natural resiliency, thus greatly impairing the utility of the counterstiffener. In those processes wherein the action of the molds or rolls harden the blank it has been found necessary to at the same time bend the lower edge of the blank inwardly to form the heel-seat; but the flange so turned and set by pressure is so stiff and hard that it cannot be readily fitted to the heel of the last, but retains the curve given to it in its manufacture.

In the manufacture of counterstiffeners by the methods referred to the operation is substantially the same when the heel-form moves into jaws, or whether the heel-form remains stationary and the jaws move over it, or whether a hinged or divided mold be used. In either case the shape given to the counterstiffener is due to the slipping or rubbing of a movable surface along one side of the blank only, while the latter is supported at its other side upon a stationary surface. So, also, in all these older plans the flange of the stiffener is wiped, rubbed, or burnished over positively upon the form, follower, or roll, agaiustwhich rests the inner side of the blank, and by a direct pressure against the said blank from its outside; but all such methods are, in my judg ment, hurtful and inexpedient, because the shape given to the stiffener is derived from pressure between two surfaces, which harden the material to such an extent as to practically destroy its natural resiliency or adaptability to the heel of the wearer of the boot or shoe. In none of these older methods is the blank material stretched or elongated in the direction of its length, and when the body of the blank is not so stretched, but is curved to fit the heel-form, the inturned flanged edge of the blank, as it is made to fit the bottom of the form, is very much crimped or corrugated and has to be hammered down and shaved off in the shoe,and such counters with a hardened stiff seat cannot be used in turned work.

A perfectly-shaped counter should be thin, so as to take up but little space in the shoe and not mark its outline against the upper, and smooth and elastic near its base, so as to be easily Worked into the shoe and permit the same to be turned or reversed in the process of manufacturing, and yet the counter must be sufficiently stiff to retain the heel of the shoe in the desired position, and its lower edge should be sufficiently pliable to be easily bent or flanged around the edge of the last and lie flat against the bottom thereof and adjust itself to the configuration ofthe particular last upon which it is used. So, also, the upper line or edge of the counter-stiffener should be sufficiently contracted to embrace or fit that portion of the heel opposite it, and the counterstiffener should possess and permanently retain sufficient elasticity to expand for the in sertion of the foot within the shoe and then contract to hug or grasp snugly the heel of the wearer to prevent slipping of the shoe upon the foot. I

In accordance with my invention the leather blank, of usual shape and properly moistened, is placed upon a heel-form of such shape as to support the blank intermediate its ends for but a part of its Width, and in such condition the ends of the blank, grasped positively between jaws, are pulled and stretched from its ends through its central part more than along but the central part of the counter-stiffener is stretched and bulged to present a concavoconveXed appearance at the middle of its length in the direction of its width, the bottom or straight part of the blank, so curled inwardly by stretching the blank in its median line, forming a lip or flange, which is left soft and pliable and with but few, if any, wrinkles, the flanged portion, as well as the main body and upper edge, of the blank retaining substantially all its natural resiliency, to be read ily conformable, not only to the last in the manufacture of the shoe, but.also to the foot of the wearer.

My invention also comprehends that improvement in the art or method of forming heel-stiffeners which consists in positively stretching the blank by a direct pull between its center and ends, whereby the blank is elongated in its median line more than at its lower edges, which causes the said edge to curl inwardly to constitute a flange for the stiffener, as will be described.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows in side elevation a machine suitable for the manufacture ofcounter-stift'eners in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a partial section thereof in the line 00; Fig. 3, a partial top view of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig.3, a detail to be referred to; Fig. 4, a plan View of a blank for the manufacture of a counter-stiffener before the same is stretched in accordance with my invention. Fig. 5 shows said blank after it has been stretched and opened out; and Figs. 6 and 7 are sections, respectively, of Figs. 4 and 5 in the dotted line 00, looking toward the left.

The machine herein illustrated, and now to be described, forms the subjectmatter of an application, Serial No. 251,713, filed by me October 7, 1887.

The standard or base A, to constitute the frame-work of the machine, has an arm, A, upon which, as herein shown, is pivoted, at A, one end of an arm or lever, A having asaddle, A, the middle portion of which, as at a, is higher than at the points a a at each side thereof; and so, also, this saddle is widest in the line :10, (see Fig. 2,) it being gradually tapered or contracted from the line or toward its junction with the arm or lever A. The standard snpports'a head, b, herein shown as provided at its upper side with a dovetailed groove, into which is fitted the correspondingly-shaped shank of a block, Z), of wedge shape, the said block being made adjustable longitudinally with relation to the said head by means ofan adjusting device, (shown as a screw, 1%,) provided near its head with an annular groove which receives the upper forked end of a leg, I), attached by screws I) to the head b. The outer sides of this block b are serrated, as shown at b to co operate with correspondingly-serrated surfaces 0 at the upper ends of levers c, pivoted by bolts 0 eX- tended through ears of the head I), the said levers near their lower ends being provided with cam projections or surfaces, as c, which are acted upon by rolls 0, attached to a block or cross head, 0 secured to the upper end of a rod, 0, attached to a treadle or lever, G, pivoted at C. The levers 0, their serrated surfaces 0, and the serrated surfaces b of the block b constitute clamps to grasp and .hold

positively the ends of the blank B when the same is to be stretched.

The rollers 0*, when depressed, through the action ofthe treadle 0, act upon the cam-sun faces 0 and force the upper serrated ends of the levers 0 against the ends of the blank laid over the saddle a, the double-dotted line in Fig. 1 immediately above the saddle being supposed to represent the blank in section when it is first laid upon the saddle and before the blank is at all stretched.

The rear end of the treadle or lever O has jointed to it, at d, the foot (1, of a rod, diwhich is extended upward loosely through suitable bearings and terminates normally near the under side of the lever or arm A This rod is surrounded by a spiral spring, (1, one end of which rests against a collar, d, made adjustable on a threaded portion of the said rod, while the upper end of the spring rests against a fixed part of the frame-work, the said spring acting normally to keep the longer end of the treadle G elevated, as shown in Fig. 1.

WVith the parts as represented in the drawings a moistened blank, B, of leather, of sub-- stantially the shape shown in Fig. 4, is laid over the saddle A, and the ends of the blank are placed in open spaces between the serrated surfaces of the clamps referred to, as shown in Fig. 2 by dotted lines, the inside of the blank (see dotted lines, Fig. 1) resting upon the high part of the saddle and not touching the portions a a thereof, especially not touching the portion a". In this condition the -operatbr places his foot upon the treadle C and depresses the same, he at the same time raising the rod d up; but as or before the upper end of the said rod meets the lever or arm A the rollers c referred to act to close the clamps upon and so as to firmly hold the ends of the blank. The operator continues to depress the treadle after the clamps have been closed, as described, and through the rod d, it meeting the lever A lifts the said lever and saddle A, which results in stretching the blank by a strain applied to its central part, its ends being clamped, and the said blank is stretched in the direction of its length along the median line no (see Fig. 4) until the edges of the blank by curling downward meet and conform to and fit the top a a of the saddle snugly, the part of the blank marked 6 in Fig. 4 being thereby turned in to constitute the flange for the stiffener, the upper edge, e, of the blank being also somewhat turned in, having a eoncavoconvexed counter-stiffener, as best shown in Fig. 7, all the parts of which retain the natural resiliency due to the leather, so that the blank so shaped may be readily applied to a last in the manufacture of a shoe and be made to readily conform to the curvature of the last, as has been described.

In accordance with my invention it will be noticed that themain part of the counter-stiff ener is not hardened or compressed between metallic or other surfaces.

In Fig. 4 I have marked upon the blank a series of vertical lines, as f, and in practice when the blank is stretched these vertical lines assume substantially the direction shown in Fig. 5, such lines being shown to delineate the curvature which is put into the blank by stretching the same.

PATRICK COX.

W'itnesses:

W. J. MOROM, A. G. WARREN. 

